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Monday, May 13, 2013

Finish Line

Okay, camping troubles aside, it was beyond thrilling to watch last Friday as our oldest child took the commissioning oath to be an Army officer. And, as a bonus? There was a professional photographer available afterwards who took pictures of all of us together. So, for what will probably be an exorbitant sum, we will finally have a fancy family photo. We haven't managed to get our act together to do that for over a decade.

Also, there were cookies and lemonade at the commissioning reception. The 3 younger children were very pleased.

The graduation ceremony was another story. The program irritated me because it spelled "Ressessional" incorrectly (4 times!). The main speaker's speech needed improvement, so I edited it in my head as she went along. And each of the 500 students' names was read out individually, which is really a bit much. I would gladly have sacrificed seeing Theo go up to receive his (not even really there) diploma if I could have avoided watching the other 499 students do the same.

Theo called me on Mother's Day (be still, my heart!) and mentioned how strange it felt not to have to be doing something every minute - no papers due, no tests to study for. "I'm just sitting around," he said. "I think I need a hobby."

I am trying to remember the last time I felt that way. I think it may have been the day before he was born.

"Be still, my heart" indeed! So many good things -- even the expensive family portrait (which will be worth the cost). Congratulations! I had trouble singing a song in church on Sunday because one word was spelled in 18th century form. Seeing as how the rest of the song contained modern spelling, I consider it a misspelling to leave that one word glaring at me in the middle of the song. The rest of the choir thinks I'm a little nuts, but I'm standing my ground. My 2011 high school grad had the largest graduating class in history of both school and county: 558 students. The ceremony was held outdoors on a 90 degree day. In P'ville. I might still be suffering from that experience if the kid had neglected to wear shoes during the processional.

Congratulations. Sat through an estimated 1200 names myself, and have the sunburn to prove it. No link to a previous post about leaving pictures at the department store portrait gallery? Congratulations again.

I bet your spouse didn't have to glare at you for yammering on during the ceremony about the glaring need for affirmative action quotas at publicly funded universities, though. I think people could tell I was a northerner. But only 2 non-caucasians out of 500? Only 90 minutes from a major metropolis? Sheesh.

No glaring. No worries about diversity. Worrisome that the non-diverse ROTC officers will be leading diverse enlisted personnel. Lack of information on diversity on the school's website tells a tale. Last school I looked up (with the idea "why do I see so many decals for that school?") had a diversity that was not dissimilar from our local high school. "I feel comfortable there." Which is what the administration must be aiming for.

I think it was only the ROTC program that had non-Caucasians. Actually, the military is the first place I saw numerous non-whites in charge. And women. As an organization, it's not as hidebound and conservative as people tend to think it is.

About Me

6 children, 1 husband (I'm boring that way). Here are the kids by name and age, to make it easy on you:
Theo (26), Anna (24), David (20), Brian (18), Rachel (15), and Susie (12, and now taller than I am).
No pictures, no real names, as my husband is totally paranoid. In a cute sort of way, of course...